The present invention relates to an ice dispenser, especially an ice dispenser of the type able to be used in a refrigerator to store pieces of ice made by an automatic ice maker of the refrigerator and dispense them as required by a user.
An ice dispenser known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,176,527 A comprises a storage container for pieces of ice, a stirrer able to rotate around an axis extending through the supply container, an output chamber which lengthens the supply container in the direction of the axis and a rotatable slide coupled to the supply container in the output chamber in the form of a number of blades attached in parallel to the axis which, as they rotate, convey the ice penetrating into the output chamber to a outlet opening. The stirrer is embodied over a part of its length as a spiral and over the other part of its length adjacent to the output chamber as a worm drive conveyor, so that pieces of ice are conveyed into the output chamber by the rotation of the stirrer. Were the stirrer to be rotated without ice being able to be dispensed from the output chamber, the ice would build up in the output chamber and block its rotation. A rotation of the stirrer without simultaneous output of ice is thus not possible. If no ice is removed for a long period there is the danger of the pieces of ice freezing solid to each other in the supply chamber and blocking the rotation, so that the ice dispenser must be taken out of the refrigerator and defrosted to allow it to be used again.
To counter this danger, a very powerful drive motor can be provided for the stirrer, and supply container and stirrer can be designed to withstand high mechanical stresses, in order to make it possible to break away the pieces of ice even after long periods without use. In this way, although the danger of blocking of the ice dispenser can be reduced or the period of non-use until a blockage occurs can be extended, this approach is associated with significant costs and there is the danger of pieces of ice being inadvertently crushed in the supply container. However the greater the proportion of small fragments of ice in the supply container, the greater is its tendency to freeze solid and the greater is also the force necessary to release the ice.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,381 proposes solving the problem of freezing up by having a separate stirrer and screw conveyor accommodated in the supply container of an ice dispenser and having them driven by a separate motor respectively. This means that the stirrer can be driven to release the pieces of ice from one another without ice being simultaneously output by the screw conveyor. A problem of this construction is the large amount of space required for the stirrer and the separate screw conveyor and its drive motor, which essentially makes this solution of interest for commercial devices used exclusively for ice making.